On Jun 7, 2022 Vittoria Biotherapeutics reported it spun out of a University of Pennsylvania research lab is emerging from stealth mode with nearly $10 million from a seed funding round (Company Pipeline, viTToria biotherapeutics, FEB 10, 2023, View Source [SID1234627036]).

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Vittoria Biotherapeutics’ mission is to overcome current limitations of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapeutics by using its unique cell engineering and gene editing technologies to create new therapies that address unmet clinical needs.

The technology the company is attempting to commercialize was developed by Dr. Marco Ruella, a hematologist from Italy who came to the United States 10 years ago to study under Penn CAR T-cell pioneers Dr. Carl June and Saar Gill.

Ruella, Vittoria’s scientific founder, is an assistant professor of medicine at the Center for Cellular Immunotherapies at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine. He is also scientific director of the lymphoma program at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Ruella said he got the idea to start a company about a year ago to further develop his method of augmenting CAR T-cell therapy with gene editing.

"I was very confident with my science, but not comfortable at all about what my next steps should be," Ruella said.

Gill, co-director of cell therapy and transplantation at Penn, co-founded two local cell and gene therapy companies: Carisma Therapeutics and Interius Biotherapeutics. He recommended Ruella talk with Bruce Peacock, a longtime life sciences industry entrepreneur and investor who was CEO at Adolor and Orthovita, held senior positions at Centocor and Cephalon, and is an investor and director at Carisma and Interius.

"Marco could see what he had and realized he needed a company to translate what he had accomplished into a meaningful therapy," Peacock said.

Peacock knew just the person to lead such a startup.

Prior to the company’s sale, Peacock was a major investor and board member at Invisible Sentinel, a Philadelphia life sciences company that had developed DNA contamination detection tools for the food, beer and wine industries. He knew its CEO, Nicholas Siciliano, was looking for his next challenge after Invisible Sentinel, where Siciliano is still a consultant, was acquired by bioMerieux of France for $75 million in 2019.

The trio — Ruella, Peacock and Siciliano — ended up co-founding the company, with Siciliano taking the CEO role and Peacock serving as board chairman.

"We fell in love with Marco and the science," Siciliano said. "The stars aligned."

On February 9, 2023 Orion reported its financial statement 2022 (Press release, Orion, FEB 9, 2023, View Source [SID1234632998]).

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On February 9, 2023 AstraZeneca reported its full year and Q4 2022 financial results (Press release, AstraZeneca, FEB 9, 2023, View Source [SID1234627085]).

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On February 9, 2023 Hepion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:HEPA), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on Artificial Intelligence ("AI")-driven therapeutic drug development for the treatment of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis ("NASH"), fibrotic diseases, hepatocellular carcinoma ("HCC"), and other chronic diseases, reported that its CEO, Robert Foster, PharmD, PhD, will lead it in ringing the Nasdaq Closing Bell on Friday, February 10, 2023 (Press release, Hepion Pharmaceuticals, FEB 9, 2023, View Source [SID1234627072]).

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The Closing Bell ceremony will be broadcast live starting at 3:45 p.m. Eastern Time from the Nasdaq MarketSite Tower in New York City. To view the broadcast, please visit www.nasdaq.com/marketsite/bell-ringing-ceremony or www.Facebook.com/Nasdaq.

On February 9, 2023 Evotec SE (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: EVT, MDAX/TecDAX, ISIN: DE0005664809; NASDAQ: EVO) and the European Investment Bank ("EIB") reported that the EIB has granted Evotec an unsecured loan facility of € 150 m to support the Company’s R&D activities, equity investments and the building of the new J.POD biologics manufacturing facility on Evotec’s Campus Curie in Toulouse, France (Press release, Evotec, FEB 9, 2023, View Source [SID1234627071]).

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Through this new financing of € 150 m, the EIB reiterates its supports to Evotec, a company that it already supported in 2017 with a financing of € 75 m. This new agreement is to be signed in Toulouse during a visit of the site on which the new biologics manufacturing facility will be built.

As a life science company focused on research, development, and manufacturing of novel precision medicines, Evotec aims to create global access to first- and best-in-class therapeutics. The Company works in partnerships with all Top 20 Pharma and more than 800 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, as well as other healthcare stakeholders to achieve a better disease understanding and deliver novel and more targeted therapeutic approaches regardless of therapeutic modality.

The EIB funding specifically supports Evotec’s business strategy through a unique, innovative and flexible financing structure including a low fixed interest rate plus a reward-sharing component for the EIB. The loan with a total volume of up to € 150 m will be invested over a period of three years and each tranche will mature seven years after draw down. Evotec will use the financing to fund its internal R&D activities, equity investments, as well as the new biologics manufacturing facility, J.POD Toulouse, France (EU).

By providing funds for proprietary research in a broad range of currently underserved therapeutic areas, the EIB financing will enable Evotec to initiate additional innovative R&D activities as well as create new partnering opportunities, leveraging its precision medicine platforms. Since 2016, Evotec has also been driving medical innovation as an operational investor in early-stage biotechnology companies – spin-offs, joint ventures as well as independent start-ups. The EIB financing will enable Evotec to further broaden its portfolio, which currently spans more than 90 active projects across more than 30 companies worldwide.

On the manufacturing side, the EIB financing will support the construction of a highly innovative facility for continuous biologics manufacturing at Evotec’s Campus Curie. J.POD Toulouse, France (EU) is the second facility of its kind and the first one on European ground. It will bring advanced biomanufacturing to the EU and will deliver much-needed clinical and commercial manufacturing capacity for biologics. The construction of J.POD Toulouse, France (EU) is also supported by the French government, the Occitanie Region, Bpifrance, the Haute-Garonne prefecture as well as Toulouse Métropole with up to € 50 m.

Enno Spillner, Chief Financial Officer of Evotec, commented: "We are excited to enter into this second financing agreement with the European Investment Bank. By funding transformational projects in key areas of public interest, EIB is an important driver of innovation in the EU. We are honoured and excited to be able to create new R&D partnering opportunities and establish Europe’s first J.POD biologics manufacturing plant through the innovative financing model from the EIB at highly attractive terms. This new agreement with EIB builds on the excellent relationship we have developed as part of the first financing agreement entered in 2017. The EIB’s support will help us deliver on our mission ‘Together for Medicines that Matter’."

EIB Vice President Ambroise Fayolle said: "We are very pleased to support Evotec’s investments in research, development and innovation with this second financing agreement signed with the European Investment Bank. It demonstrates our commitment to supporting European biotech companies at the cutting edge of innovation in a sector marked by very strong global competition. This EIB investment will also have a significant impact on activity in the Toulouse region, as it will help to finance a 12,000 square metre plant that will create more than 200 highly skilled jobs."

The transaction is going to be signed by Members of Evotec’s Management Board and the Vice President of the European Investment Bank, Ambroise Fayolle, during a ceremony on Evotec’s Campus Curie in Toulouse today. This financing agreement, as well as a previous loan of € 75 m by the EIB in 2017, has been developed in cooperation with kENUP Foundation, an NGO supporting innovation in Europe.